Lance Klusener

Lance Klusener (born 4 September 1971) is an international cricket coach and former cricketer of South Africa.

He was known for his aggressive batting and fast-medium swing bowling.

Klusener was one of the best all-rounders in the world during 1990s and early 2000s and one of the pioneers of power batting as a finisher.

He was popular for his ferocious batting, ability to hit the deck hard and ability to take wickets on crunch situations and break partnerships.

He is nicknamed "Zulu" because of his fluency in the Zulu language.

Since his retirement he has occasionally commentated on cricket in both Zulu and Xhosa.

Klusener played for KwaZulu-Natal (Nashua Dolphins) in the domestic level in South Africa between 1991 and 2004.

Klusener was drafted into Natal's first XI in 1993/94 season and was mentored by Malcolm Marshall.

Klusener made his ODI debut on 19 January 1996 against England.

He made his Test debut for South Africa against India in Calcutta during the second Test in 1996/97.

At the time playing primarily as a bowler, Klusener took some hammering in the first innings at the hands of Mohammad Azharuddin, who at one point hit him for five consecutive fours, but Klusener returned what would remain career-best figures of eight for 64 in the second.

On his test debut he picked 8 wicket haul in a flat pitch in Kolkata, and he led from the front especially after Allan Donald had broken down.

His bowling figures of 8/64 is regarded as the best bowling figures by a South African bowler in an innings on test debut.

In his fourth test appearance, he registered the then fastest-ever test century by a South African in test cricket when he raced to the milestone off 100 balls against India at Cape Town in January 1997.

It was also his maiden test century, as he achieved it while batting at no 9 position.

He was initially selected to the South African squad for the 50 over cricket tournament at the 1998 Commonwealth Games but he later withdrew from the tournament without featuring in any of the games and was subsequently replaced by Alan Dawson.

He also raised his game in test cricket further by scoring 174 against England in a drawn test match in Port Elizabeth in December 1999 and he was awarded the player of the match.

Klusener is remembered for his contributions in One Day Internationals, in which he was a hard hitting batsman and was voted as Man of the Tournament during the 1999 World Cup.

He showed glimpses of his big-hitting in the years leading to the 1999 World Cup.

His baseball-style backlift and thunderous hitting lit up the tournament and nearly took South Africa to the final.

In the 1999 Cricket World Cup, South Africa had progressed to the semi-finals, and Klusener until then had an excellent tournament, taking 17 wickets and scoring 250 runs (including two half centuries) in 8 matches and building a reputation as a hard-hitting batsman in tight situations.

During the 1999 World Cup, he remained not out in five consecutive innings which yielded 214 runs without being dismissed.

His streak was finally ended by Gavin Larsen in the Super Six stage match against New Zealand when he was dismissed for the first time in the tournament after scoring just four runs.

He was also voted as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2000.

His international career tapered off after this, mainly due to persistent ankle injuries, as well as a public dispute with the then South African captain Graeme Smith, who at a breakfast meeting shortly after his appointment to the captaincy, in which he described Klusener as a "disruptive force" to the younger players within the South African national cricket team.

The quote ended up in the South African press.

Later Klusener and Smith patched up their differences.

He had scored 1,906 runs in 49 matches with a highest score of 174 and took 80 wickets with best figures of 8/64 in test matches.

He scored 3,576 runs in 171 ODI matches at an average of 41.1 with a highest score of 103 and took 192 wickets with a best of 6/49.

He has most fifers for South Africa in ODIs with 6.

In 2004, Northamptonshire County Cricket Club signed him on a contract running until late 2008.

At Wantage Road he impressed with his fired-up seam bowling and his hard-hitting in the low middle-order.

In late 2007, he started playing in the Indian Cricket League Twenty20 tournament in India for the Kolkata Tigers team.

Due to family bereavements back home, it was announced that his contract with the county would not be renewed at the end of the 2008 season.

In September 2019, Klusener was appointed as the head coach of the Afghanistan national cricket team.

Klusener grew up on a sugarcane farm north of Empangeni, attending Kwambonambi primary school with Zulu children.

He later attended Durban High School and broke into the school's first team only in his final year.

He also underwent military service for three years which contributed to a straightforward approach to his bowling.

The manager of Natal Denis Carlstein identified the potential in his bowling and he recommended Klusener to attend the provincial nets.

He was later spotted by the West Indian fast bowler Malcolm Marshall who was then Natal's overseas player in the first-class cricket season.